City Travel Guides > Books > Language

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.Mandarin Phrasebook (Lonely Planet Phrasebook)
City Travel Guides > Books > Language
by: Anthony Garnaut

September 01, 2006
On a trip to China I ordered this phrasebook as I have absolutely no knowledge of Mandarin and was told China was quite difficult to get around in due to the low level of English spoken over there.

In truth, at places like airports staff there will speak English and signs will be written in English. In Beijing airport I was even able to ask a janitor a question in English and he understood me. In more rural China (specifically I went to Fujian province) it's very unlikely that you'll come across someone that can speak English, but places still have some signs in English.

Following on from my previous point, the writing system will pose a problem and is one this book cannot solve, not that it aims to. Rather you will ... Read More:
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Used Price: £1.68

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.Italian Grammar Drills (Drills Series)
City Travel Guides > Books > Language
by: Paola Nanni-Tate

August 01, 2007
This book is absolutely fabulous. It contains all aspects of Italian grammar, and it answers the `why is that there?', `What does this mean?' questions. It is very simple to follow as well, and has a lot of exercises to help drill the grammar point's home. There are some grammar books out there that cost around £15.00-25.00 that aren't a patch on this cheap but very detailed book. It answers everything!
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Used Price: £3.98

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.Collins English Dictionary and Thesaurus Pocket Edition
City Travel Guides > Books > Language
from: Collins

February 06, 2006
This book is absolutely fabulous. It contains all aspects of Italian grammar, and it answers the `why is that there?', `What does this mean?' questions. It is very simple to follow as well, and has a lot of exercises to help drill the grammar point's home. There are some grammar books out there that cost around £15.00-25.00 that aren't a patch on this cheap but very detailed book. It answers everything!
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Used Price: £4.20

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.Teach Yourself Beginner's Japanese Book/CD Pack (Teach Yourself Languages)
City Travel Guides > Books > Language
by: Helen Gilhooly

November 20, 2006
I am completely new to the japanese language and this book has taken me from not being able to speak a word beside "konnichiwa" to having actual conversations with japanese friends. It is perfect with the CD so that you get the pronounciation right, as the language is so different from english and there is even an opportunity to learn some of the script. However, if you are looking to be able to read and write japanese properly, this is probably not the best suited book for you. But for people who want to speak and write/read in romaji: BUY THIS BOOK
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Used Price: £14.68

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.Txtng: The Gr8 Db8
City Travel Guides > Books > Language
by: David Crystal

July 05, 2008
I am completely new to the japanese language and this book has taken me from not being able to speak a word beside "konnichiwa" to having actual conversations with japanese friends. It is perfect with the CD so that you get the pronounciation right, as the language is so different from english and there is even an opportunity to learn some of the script. However, if you are looking to be able to read and write japanese properly, this is probably not the best suited book for you. But for people who want to speak and write/read in romaji: BUY THIS BOOK
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Used Price: £3.91

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.How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Step-by-step Guide to Teach Yourself Hieroglyphs
City Travel Guides > Books > Language
by: Mark Collier, Bill Manley

1998-03
I have seen several books on egyptian heiroglyphs and I have to say this is the best one for beginners by far. Collier takes the reader step by step through the maze which is ancient egyptian language. It explains how to tell which order to read them, how to decipher with relation to context as well as many excercises after each chapter to ensure you can put into practice what you have learnt. For anyone looking to learn this is the book for you!
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Used Price: £3.80

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.My Grammar and I (Or Should That Be 'Me'?): Old-School Ways to Sharpen Your English
City Travel Guides > Books > Language
by: J. A. Wines, Caroline Taggart

October 09, 2008
I have seen several books on egyptian heiroglyphs and I have to say this is the best one for beginners by far. Collier takes the reader step by step through the maze which is ancient egyptian language. It explains how to tell which order to read them, how to decipher with relation to context as well as many excercises after each chapter to ensure you can put into practice what you have learnt. For anyone looking to learn this is the book for you!
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.Advanced Grammar in Use With CD ROM (Grammar in Use)
City Travel Guides > Books > Language
by: Martin Hewings

April 28, 2005
I like that one. It contains everything you may need, while you are using a little advanced English. Your grammar will become very good. It can be very useful in every way if you are just studing English or you want to live in English speaking country or you want to study there, or work for foreign company. In every way I recommend this book highly to everybody that want to speak English well.
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Used Price: £10.71

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.Brazilian Portuguese (Lonely Planet Phrasebook)
City Travel Guides > Books > Language
by: Marcia Monje de Castro

January 01, 2008
At first sight, a useful book despite a dictionary at the back that contains some glaring omissions of basic words such as 'from' and 'please', as well as other useful words such as 'sting'. Its culinary reader is threadbare too, with plenty of omissions - annoying when tried to decipher a menu.

But the real flaw is in the phonetic spellings of the Portuguese words. The author uses 'ng' to indicate the nasal vowels that characterise Brazilian Portuguese, but this only works about half the time. The rest of the time you're just mispronouncing the word.

The biggest omission of all, though, is as follows. In Brazilian Portuguese, when a 't' is followed by an 'e' or an 'i', this means the 't' is pronounced like the 'j' in jam or 'ch' ... Read More:
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Used Price: £3.70

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.How to Prepare for the IELTS: Book with Audio-CD
City Travel Guides > Books > Language
by: Lin Lougheed

August 01, 2006
As a foreigner preparing myself for the IELTS test I found this book extremely chaotic and unhelpful. The key and supporting CD are very poor as they do not cover the whole material that's in the book. Each module contains tasks or examples with no answers in the key provided at the end. The explanations are incoherent and not putted together at the beginning of each module. You need to hunt for essential information as they are all over the chapter. It is a challenge to make a sense of 'tasks' and 'targets' for each chapter. As a former student of English literature and language I have never came across worst text-book than this one. I will definitely return it and get another one.

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Used Price: £10.95